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Today marks the birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, India’s first education minister after independence. He was a renowned freedom fighter who opposed the idea of Partition.

More about his life & contributions:
- To ignite the passion of Indians as well as foreign revolutionary leaders, Maulana Azad began publishing a weekly called “Al-Hilal" in 1912.
- He used it to attack the policies of the British Government and highlight the problems faced by the common Indians.
- In 1920, he was elected as a member of the foundation committee to establish Jamia Millia Islamia at Aligarh in UP.
- He also assisted in shifting the university campus from Aligarh to New Delhi in 1934.
- In 1923, at an age of 35, Maulana Azad became the youngest person to serve as the President of the Indian National Congress.
- He was elected as Congress President in 1923 and 1940.
- As the first Indian education minister, Azad’s main focus in post- independence India was educating the rural poor and girls.
- Other key areas where he focused were adult literacy, free and compulsory for all children up to the age of 14, universal primary education, and diversification of secondary education and vocational training.
- He also oversaw the establishment of the Department of Education of the University of Delhi, the first Indian Institute of Technology in 1951 and the University Grants Commission in 1953.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was posthumously awarded India’s highest civilian honour, the ‘Bharat Ratna’ in 1992.